tyler21 wrote:Wow, this is eye-opening. Never would have guessed the legal profession was so limited.

It really is, and I can understand that it's a little jarring news at first. There is a massive glut of lawyers due to a contracting legal market and way too many law schools churning out graduates. It's not like medical school where the graduate pool is limited. And to make matters worse, the majority of legal jobs pay mid-5 figure salaries, yet law schools charge exorbitant rates for the degree.

Have you checked out Law School Transparency? If not, go there and take a look at the school reports. Outside of the elite schools, most law schools place only 50-70% of their graduates into full time, permanent, JD-required jobs 9-months after graduation. That means at least a third of the class can't even find gainful legal work, and has to resort to hourly gigs, non-legal work like business or teaching, or they go back to what they did before law school. At some schools, over half the class is in this boat. And of the people who do get jobs, many are low paying and/or grueling work, and make loan repayment a nightmare.

Becuaer of these risks, you should rarely, if ever, pay full price for law school. You should generally only go to an elite law school with some scholarship money, or to a strong local law school on a full ride. You also should understand that different law schools place people into very different jobs; an Oklahoma grad has a good shot to land a prosecution job in Oklahoma, but is exceedingly unlikely to pull down a federal court of appeals clerkship or a big firm job in NYC.

The long and short of all this is: bear these concerns (costs, goals, placement power, market connections) in mind when choosing a law school. And don't sell yourself short by refusing to retake.

tyler21 wrote:These are my five finalists. I have received an 85.2% ($27k/$32,688) offer for tuition for Ole Miss, which made it go from the bottom of my list to the top of my list. I am from Fort Worth, TX but have family in the Mississippi area. Would not mind living there but would rather relocate to the DFW area. Acceptance is coming for all, but unsure of the scholarship money for the others. Unsure of what should I do for employment reasons. Baylor will be very expensive and contain very little scholarship money. I have a 3.78 UGPA and made a 156 the only time I took the LSAT, without any practice. Collegiate basketball player for four years as well. Just curious as to what I should do about my future. Any suggestions would be appreciated, and you will not hurt my feelings.

I took the LSAT cold the first time and gained 9 points just by studying a couple nights. Retake is definitely the right answer here. Though I think it is overzealously pushed at times on this forum, this is not one of those times.

And I'm pretty sure you'll get into SMU. The only reason I'd be hesitant to advise you to apply is that I think you'll get in and you may have a hard time resisting going, even though a retake would get you $$$ there or UT/T14 next cycle.

I 100% agree with the retake because law school is just not worth it at sticker regardless of where you go. That being said, I disagree with the statement that Tech limits you to West Texas. Tech places really well in DFW and a huge contingent of both my class (2Ls) and the current graduating class will be going to work there this summer. So please don't let that misconception knock Tech out of the running. (I <3 Tech).